Judge Threatens to Jail a Crime Lab Employee for DNA Test Backlog

November 28, 2016

A Utah judge frustrated over a lack of DNA results from the state crime lab said if the results aren't complete by next month, he'll put a crime lab employee behind bars.

Christopher Lee Monson has been in jail for the past 13 months, after prosecutors in Davis County charged him with rape and attempted kidnapping in connection with an alleged assault of his ex-girlfriend last October.

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A seven-day trial had been scheduled for next month, but Monson's attorney, Mary Corporon, told 2nd District Judge Thomas Kay in a mid-November hearing that attorneys still have not received the DNA results of a rape kit that was completed last year.

She told Kay that she doesn't know if the evidence will help or hurt Monson's defense — but said she can't go forward with the trial without the results, according to a recording of the court hearing.

Florida voters opted to automatically restore voting rights to former felons, affecting some 1.4 million residents. In Louisiana, voters instituted a five-year waiting period for felons to seek political office.